The present invention relates to a revolving ammunition magazine, in particular for shells, where the magazine comprises an ammunition holder unit which is mounted in a frame in a revolving manner around a longitudinal centre axis.
In connection with loading a shell-throwing weapon from the rear end of the barrel of the weapon, there is frequently a requirement for great storage capacity and thus compact design of the ammunition magazine when such weapons are mounted in mobile units in which the space is limited. Likewise, such shell magazines are to be capable of being coordinated with loading mechanisms for rear-loading of the weapon.
For this purpose, the revolving ammunition magazine according to the invention referred to in the introduction is characterized in that the ammunition holder unit comprises a number of elongate, first ammunition holder elements which are distributed uniformly in relation to one another around the centre axis and designed and positioned so as to be capable of holding at least two shells lying essentially parallel to and at a different radial distance from the centre axis, and second ammunition holder elements designed and arranged so as to be capable of holding at least one shell essentially parallel to the centre axis and between the first ammunition holder elements at the same radial distance from the centre axis as the radially outer shells in the first holder elements. By virtue of such a construction of the magazine, a large number of shells can be stored in a very limited area, it being possible for shells in a radially inner storage location in the first ammunition holder elements to be transferred automatically to a radially outer ejection position by gravitational force acting on them during the revolving motion of the magazine, when a radially outer shell in the same holder element has previously been ejected.
Further features and details of the ammunition magazine according to the invention are indicated in the dependent patent claims below and will be described in greater detail below.
In a particularly suitable arrangement of ammunition magazines according to the invention, two magazines are positioned in a mirror-inverted manner in relation to one another with a common ammunition ejector mechanism located between the magazines. As a result, a shell-throwing weapon can be coordinated with a very compact loading and magazine unit with great capacity.